


If you are the sky, then I'll be the stars

by helenabarbara



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Cute, Fluff, Homelessness, M/M, One Shot, the smallest bit of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 09:56:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1465114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helenabarbara/pseuds/helenabarbara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(My summaries are rubbish, sorry)</p><p>Harry loves his routine that'd seem very monotone and boring to others. He works in a bookshop and likes stargazing. But of course nothing can stay the same and Harry's once simple life takes a drastic turn.</p><p>Or the one where Louis is homeless and Harry is the nicest person on earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If you are the sky, then I'll be the stars

 

_“To find the universal elements enough;_  
 _to find the air and the water exhilarating;_  
 _to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter..._  
 _To be thrilled by the stars at night;_  
 _to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring_  
 _-_  
 _these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”_

–  John Burroughs  
  


* * *

 

When Harry was sixteen, his dream was to move out and live on his own. He chased after this dream as soon as he had enough money to rent a decent flat, when he was twenty. He worked at an old bookshop, owned by a guy named Zayn. He then learned that Zayn's dream was to own a bookshop, and so Harry wanted to collect other dreams. He had written his own and Zayn's dream in a notebook and kept it in his drawer, together with a picture of his mother and sister, an old watch, a pen and a stuffed animal that he used to sleep with when he was little. Harry lived a simple and monotone life, just the way he wanted it. He wasn't eager to go on adventures, or find golden treasures hidden in caves somewhere on an abandoned island. He just didn't roll that way. Harry liked his routine. He liked to sit in his chair and study people through his window, he liked the endless book sorting he did in Zayn's bookshop and Harry liked stargazing. Sometimes he would stay up all night to look at the stars, until he would fall asleep in his chair and he'd awake in an uncomfortable position, if not fallen on the ground during the tossing and turning he always does in his sleep.

But of course nothing can stay the same.

~

After three months of living his simple life, Harry walked home at exactly seven o'clock. Like the day before and the day before that day, and so on. He walked past the street lantern and was about to step inside the building when he froze. He turned around slowly and stuck his head around the corner. There was a boy sitting against the brick wall. He seemed to be asleep and Harry tiptoed to the front of the building again. He wasn't expecting that.

Harry sat down next to the boy, leaning back against the cold stone. It was late in the afternoon and he had walked past the unknown boy again. He concluded he was homeless, as he sat there every day. Furthermore, he wore the same navy sweater as the first time Harry saw him. Which was two weeks ago.

The boy didn't move or even look at him. He just sat against the wall, doodling in a notebook. Harry saw him doing that often.

The next time he sat down next down to the boy, he had a cup of coffee in his hand. It was a blue mug with his name written on it. He took small sips of the hot liquid and just sat next to the stranger, enjoying the sunrise. He finished his coffee and stood up. Holding his mug in one hand, Harry dusted off his pants and walked back to where he came from.

~

Harry found out his name when he had bought a hot chocolate at the Starbucks nearby. He sat down next to the boy again and drank his sugary drink. It wasn't long before he finished, but he didn't make any effort to leave. After counting the bricks in front of him (two hundred and seventy one), he pushed himself off the ground and slipped into the crowd of people walking by.

That night when Harry walked home, he passed the corner again. The boy wasn't there, but Harry's abandoned Starbucks cup from that morning was. He picked it up and smiled when he saw a second name written on it in a messy handwriting.

 _Louis_ , the cup read.

~

Harry had noticed his heart fluttered a little every time he sat down next to Louis. He had scolded himself for developing feelings for a stranger, but it did nothing. His heart still fluttered and now his thoughts were also taken over by this boy.

After finding out the boy's name, Harry started leaving takeaway cups of tea and sometimes a muffin. At first Louis (He smiled every time the name crossed his mind) didn't take the tea and muffins, but after Harry left a message on one the cups - saying 'don't worry, I'm not trying to poison you ;)' - he found an empty cup at night. Sometimes Louis left a message on the cup and Harry's collection of Starbucks takeaway cups grew with the day. It started with the cup that had Louis' name on it, but now his collection also consisted of the ones with the messages on it.

~

They first said something to each other when Harry had about fifteen takeaway cups standing on his once almost empty shelf. It had been a beautiful and clear sky that night. "Do you live somewhere?" Harry had asked.

The answer had been simple; "I live under the stars."

After that they had just small conversations. About their siblings,

"I have an older sister,"

"Four younger sisters."

And jobs,

"You working anywhere?"

"In a bookshop owned by a guy named Zayn, do you?"

"No."

Sometimes, when Louis was in a talkative mood, they discussed very serious things, like gay rights or the environment. And maybe he let Louis do the talking because he just loved hearing his voice.

Harry also stopped denying his obvious feelings for him to Zayn.

(His feelings for Louis, he just talked to Zayn about them)

~

Then it was winter and cold snow splattered against Harry's clean windows. He sat on the ground in his small living room wrapped in blankets and read. He eventually put the book away, because Harry just couldn't concentrate at the moment; his mind kept wandering off to the boy sitting against the brick wall. It was freezing outside and he'd die from the cold out there. Harry threw the blankets (five, if you want to be accurate) away and slipped on his shoes.

"Come inside."

Louis looked up. His cheeks were red and his lips purple. He didn't respond, just shivered and stared at Harry. Who regretted wearing a thin jumper instead of his coat and scarf.

"Come inside with me. You can't stay out in a snowstorm, you'll freeze to death."

He still didn't say yes or no and Harry was about to sink down on the ground to plead and beg, when Louis placed a gloved hand against the wet ground and pushed himself up. Louis looked Harry in the eyes and nodded. The latter grinned and started to walk back to the entrance. When he turned around Louis was still behind him, but knocked out cold on the ground.

~

"Zayn, I need- oh, hi Liam," Harry stumbled through the door of the bookshop, startled by the sudden appearance of the friendly face that belonged to Liam, Zayn's boyfriend. He still thought it was oddly strange three gay lads had found each other in a bookshop. The couple had laughed at his 'oddly strange' and that's how their friendship had been formed.

"Haz, why on earth are you so stressed-"

"He's in my house."

"Louis?"

Harry took the time to roll his eyes, "no, Santa Claus, duh."

A sound came from Liam,  _"_ don't mock my boyfriend, Harry."

Harry gave them both a pleading look that was enough to make Liam put on a serious face.

"What did you do?"

After Harry told Zayn - and Liam - about the snowstorm last night and how he had ended up carrying Louis inside as the boy had lost his conscious, probably because of the cold, he slumped down in a chair and sighed. A homeless guy - that he's kind of in love with - is on his couch, after Harry asked him to come inside. Why did he do that?  _"_ What was I thinking?" He groaned and held his head low. "Why did I ask him that?"

"Because you care, Harry."

Zayn grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the miserable Harry.  _"_ You care about everyone, I saw that the first day you came through that door and excused yourself when Liam bumped into you. You asked Louis inside, because you did not want him to freeze to death. I think you should head back home and give him a safe place to stay, other than against a brick wall."

And that's exactly what Harry did.

~

It had been two months since Harry had first asked him to come in, and one month ago was the last time he asked. Louis had come with him again and never left. Of course, they encountered some problems (and maybe Harry heard Louis cry himself to sleep when he though the other lad was already in dreamy land) but beside that, it had been everything Harry had fantasised about. Louis had been shy and wary at first, but after he had slept at Harry's a couple times and even met Liam and Zayn, he came out his shell.

“Haz?” Harry smiled at the nickname.

“Yeah?”

"What are we?" Harry looked up and met Louis' eyes. He knew they'd have to talk about it at some point. He wanted nothing more than just to be with Louis but as Zayn also told him, Louis had been through hard times.

“What do you want us to be?”

“I-I don’t know,” Harry bit his lip.

“Why do you keep coming back, Lou?”

Louis looked around the room, avoiding Harry’s eyes. “Because you ask me to,” he said half-heartedly. He still didn’t look him in the eye. And then, after a moment of silence, he spoke the words Harry’d been wanting to hear for so long. “Because I want to.”

Harry leaned towards him and they kissed.

~

“Hey Harry!” Niall immediately greeted him when Harry entered the small coffee shop, completely ignoring the fact he hadn’t been here in more than two months. When he first came here, the blond boy was casually leaning against the counter, greeting everyone who entered the shop. Even though he always brought him his coffee, Harry realised after about seven visits Niall actually _worked_ there. The blonde always jumped around, Harry just assumed he was a regular costumer.

“Hi Niall, how are you mate?” Harry greeted back with a wide smile. He sure missed this fella.

“I’m great, had any success with your wall boy?” Harry blushed, when he came here often he always gushed about Louis to Niall. He now realised they never met.

“I think you should meet my _boyfriend_ ,” he said and laughed when Niall gasped and launched himself at Harry.

“Oh my god, yes! Let me finish my shift first, though, don’t want mom to be mad at me.” Harry ordered a brownie and a cup of coffee to have something to do and leaned against the counter.

Two hours later and fifteen minutes of helping Niall cleaning up something he dropped, they were walking to Harry’s building. Harry began to get nervous, what if Louis didn’t like Niall? Or the other way around? The lad was happily chattering next to him about cats and ice-cream (Harry tried but couldn’t find a valid reason for the combination except _Niall_ ).

“Alright, we’re here,” Harry said and swallowed. Niall frowned at him.

“Why are you nervous, Haz, I ain’t that bad, am I?”

Harry fumbled with his key and finally unlocked the door. “Just don’t want you lads to not like each other.” He earned a friendly shove for that,

“Everyone likes me, you dumb fuck.”

Harry snorted but still smiled at him, “of course, keep dreaming babe.”

(Turned out Niall and Louis loved looking at the baby photo’s his mum gave him when Harry moved out. “Oh, look at his tiny bum!”)

~

“Lou?” Harry entered their (his) dark flat, biting his lip when no one answered. “He’s probably asleep or something,” he mumbled to himself. He turned on the lights in the living room, then walked to the bedroom but Louis was nowhere in sight. Harry began to panic, _what if he left me?_ He eventually walked to the balcony door and-

“Oh my god.”

Harry sank down to his knees next to Louis’ sleeping form, softly stroking his cheek. The boy opened his eyes, almost looking like he was caught doing something naughty.  “Why are you sleeping out here, Lou?” Harry whispered.

“I can’t sleep without the stars,” the answer was.

“Let me be your star.”


End file.
